the Price of Drum Lessons

I was looking for drum lessons for my 13 year old daughter this last summer. while not having the time to take her to a studio and the thought of her having to bring her drums to another's house was daunting, I decided to go to the newspaper and craigslist to see if I could find someone that would come to us. I called 10 instructors and didn't hear back from 7 of them. the three that i talked to were very different with different styles. the first two I talked to were older guys that did lessons in their spare time and the third was a college student that played in a heavy metal band. needless to say I went with the latter. I thought my daughter would get more out of a lesson if she "looked up to" the person she was getting lessons from.

I was hesitant hiring a college student but he was great! very patient with my daughter even when she didn't practice (more patient than i would have been). he took things one at a time and was teaching theory as well. i think the fact that i hired someone closer to her age made a big difference to her view of the lessons. overall i think this was an excellent choice. the huge plus was that he was much cheaper than a studio.

I would definitely ask for a sample of their abilities at the first lesson. also, I stayed in the room to see what i felt the teaching level was to make sure it was in line with what my daughter needed. I would also make a list of questions to ask them on the phone before you start the first lesson...like the type of music played, are you in a band now, how many lessons do you do, etc. was right on when I asked for someone closer to my daughter's age because she took lessons for 2 months instead of 2 weeks...hah